Our Trip to France Part 1

Hello there.

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that Mr Clicky and me and our friends B and S have been trying to buy a little house in Southern Burgundy, France.  

My first very excited post in 2010 about it is here.

I won't bore you with the reasons why it have taken 2 years to buy it but it has.

We got the final nod a few weeks ago and so B, me and DS set off from B's house in Hertfordshire at 4.00am to catch the 6.50am train under The Channel.

As we approached the sun was rising.

We made the train just in time.

We were on the bottom deck this time.

I know some people are a bit bothered about using the tunnel but we think it is fab. In the past we've had two horrendous 6 hour ferry crossings to France with delays both ways.  

Never again.

35 minutes later we were in France.....

........ the sunrise looked even better.

We then began our 8 hour journey along the French motorways, past fields and fields of sunflowers.

The co-drivers had a few sleeps, we swapped over several times and before we knew it, we were in Burgundy.  

Although we were not yet owners of the house we couldn't resist a peep and drove past on the way to the campsite we were staying.

Oh No!  Where had it gone?  

One of the neighbours came out to see us and amid lots of Gallic shrugs, told us what we already knew.  

Beaucoup de travail.  

 Lots of work. 

We tried not to get too down heartened and set off for the campsite in the nearest town La Clayette.

We had bought a bargain £80.00 8 man tent which is staying in the house for future use.  It was hot and sultry as we put it up and a few minutes later a thunderstorm struck.

The next day we were due to see the Nortaire (solicitor) at 4.00pm so a leisurely breakfast was followed by a trip to the Plassard (Yarn) Factory Mill 5 minutes drive away.

Well, it would have been rude not to.

Even DS was impressed by the colours.

I was very restrained and only got two balls. 

A spot of lunch back at the campsite, change into a dress (not DS, obviously)  and we soon found ourselves in the Notaire's office.  We had to sign sheets and sheets of legal documents which were previously read out to us in French.  We'd already sent the money via International Money Exchange (eek!) so 1/2 hour later we came out the proud owners of a house!

We were keen to get to the front door, so changed again into old jeans and drove the 10 minutes to Des Bonnes Amies (The Good Friends) as we're naming it.

The hamlet we're in is called Le Buisson  (The Bush) near to the village of Montmelard.  There are six houses altogether, one of those is a Gite and house owned by a lovely English couple B and D.  We popped around to borrow a scythe, D came with it and scythed us to the front door.

'The Path' looking back to the front gate.

We were in!

It has not been lived in for 15 years and is looking a bit sad.

Living room with stairs off, open door into the kitchen.

Living room window looking into the front garden.

Spiders everywhere!

The next few days were spent removing the worst of the dust and dirt.

We set DS to work in the front garden, a job which he executed with relish.

 

By the time he finished you could see the front.

Cracking job.

The back garden however, is a bigger job....

.......... it's twice as wide as the front but has less trees and more brambles and nettles.  The French neighbour we had already met appeared with his scythe and helped too.

More Gallic shrugs.

We found a sweet little blue bottle.

The hardboard falling down off the kitchen ceiling.  We managed to get some of it off but when I suggested to B we needed stepladders she told me in no uncertain terms 'There's no way I'm getting any closer the that.'

15 years worth of grime came down too.

We retired after the day's work back to the campsite and a dip into it's lovely pool.  It was very restorative.

Well, I have rambled on enough today Part 2 will continue tomorrow.

Bye for now .........Clicky Needles et Des Bonnes Amies 

(Mr CN, B and S.)

A Lazy Week

Hello Folks.

Before I ramble on this week, I need to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who left comments  last week, they meant so much.  I mentioned I was feeling a bit meh about my little blog but not any more.  You really lifted my spirits.

Ahhhhh.

I've spent the week chilling slowly most days, starting with breakfast in the sunshine, with a bit of knitting and ipad on the side.

In the bowl my usual, porridge.  

Even in the heat of the summer a hot steaming bowl of porridge gets me going and in theory (!) stops me snacking until lunch.

Next to our deck is this lovely rose which is filling the air with scent.

In the holiday mood I painted my toenails silver to match my sparkly flip-flops.

I did a bit of hooky too,  this is for a swap so I shouldn't show you too much yet.

All the while the sky has looked like this again.

Whilst I've been outside, I can hear the dull thud, thud of balers making hay at last and the rumble of combine harvesters taking off the barley.  A few happier farmers around here I think.

If I'm totally honest though it was a bit too warm at times, and that's saying something coming from me, I love hot weather.

 I cast on for my next project and got quite a long way through.  Little Green Indifference, a Top Down shrug pattern from the wonderfully entitled blog What? Another Hobby.  I'm making it in Stylecraft Life 4 ply and as I have 2 balls in the stash I'm going to make it into a cardi.  Well that's the theory, we'll see how it goes.  I'm a bit further on than this now, I've gone past the sleeves and I'm carrying on with the body.

 My other project if part of the Ravelry Ravellenic Games.  I'm knitting for Team Phoenix Knitters and cast on a sock during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. I thought The Ceremony was fantastic.  I particularly liked the way the beautiful countryside peeled back to reveal the Industrial Revolution.  The forged rings that joined in the sky were great but the star of the show for me was The Queen and James Bond.  What a trooper!

Well that's about it for now I think, next week's post will be a bit late ~ I'm on a quick hop to France with DS and my lovely friend B.  Tell you all about it then.

As always have fun.

Byeeeeee.................................Clicky Needles.

Holidays and Yes! Some Sun At Last.

Hello all.

Holidays have arrived and about time too.

As I thought the two school trips I went on were wet to say the least.

The first, with the class I work with, was to Cattle Country.

They do a have few animals, this Gloucester Old Spot was in her element,

but it mainly involves throwing yourself down terrifying slides. 

Apparently this is Britain's biggest climbing net.

Before you ask, no I didn't do either.

The following day was with the little children in the lower end of the school.  
We went to a local farm, they had some lovely cows.  

You'll notice at this point the weather looks ok.

We needed to walk onto the wood where we were to spend the rest of the day den building, toasting marshmallows and camp scones over the huge camp fire and bug hunting.

We set off over the field and a hail storm hit.  We had to drag the bunch of 6 and 7 year olds across the field, trying our best to keep them dry but we all got soaked.

There were some very miserable people, to be fair mostly the adults. 

The wood was on the side of a sloping valley; by the time the whole group had bug hunted and made dens it was a quagmire.

This was fine for one little boy who invented the new sport of mud diving.  He was wearing full waterproofs and made use of them by flinging himself down the slope and sliding as far as possible whenever our backs were turned!

Here's one of the dens, with sunlight streaming through the canopy.  Just as we were about to leave thunder started to rumble.

Back across the field (slow progress) up the lanes and back to the bus.  The children had to remove their waterproofs and wellies before the driver would let them back on they were so muddy.

As soon as I got home I hopped into the bath, which is unheard of in the 'Summer' months and before I knew it I had fallen asleep!  I didn't drown and luckily when I woke the water was still warm.

So school has finished.  We've archived the old books, ripped down the displays and put up new backings, tried to tidy up a bit, let the children a bit loose (lots of play not much work) and said goodbye to the Year 6 children.  It's always a sad time to see them come in as 5 year olds and see them go as 11 year olds. 

 During the Leaver's service the words of the song 'One More Step Along The World I Go' is a killer.   

 The lines;  'And it's from the old I travel to the new, 

keep me traveling along with you,'  always make me cry when I think of them moving on.  

So now on the other thing. 

 SUN!!!!!!

Mr Clicky and me went for our Sunday amble.

We live on the top of the hills and thought we would go down to the valley bottom and back up again.

We stopped on the way down to take in the views.  Looking across towards Minchinhampton Common. 

Carrying on downwards.

You can see how steep it is when you come back up!

We made it back home in one piece but with lots of panting and a few rests.

The garden is looking great in the sun,

this Eryngium, Miss Willmott's Ghost is as prickly as it looks,

such a shame no one has invented smelly vision yet,

pink lavender

and a knockout lily, the garden is filled with it's scent.

Knitting wise a Ta-Dah!!!!!!!

My Whale Watch Hat blocking.

The balloon looks fairly happy with it and so am I.  

I don't know if I will wear it as I don't really have the hair for hats ~ the curls just stick out at odd angles.

HillyT asked whether it was difficult.  Not difficult as such, just fiddly I think.

I'm very pleased with the colours, the original pattern used blue for the whales, but I think they look just as good in greeny/grey.

I've also got some more Friendship Squares ready to send.

So there we are, a bit of a lengthy post I'm afraid.  

I've been a bit meh! about my blog of late, I'm just ready for a rest I think.

As always have fun and enjoy the sun.

Bye for now.............Clicky Needles.

When Will This Rain Stop?

Hello.

I know that we've been really lucky compared to some who are having to deal with floods, but I'm REALLY FED UP WITH THIS RAIN.

Sports Day has been cancelled.  

We've had lots of wet playtimes.

I keep getting wet feet.  (I hate that.) 

 DS and his friends can't go outside. 

Wet washing on the airer.

Then the tumble dryer going.

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh.

So now that's out of my system, on to better things.

I found this lovely cheery set of bowls in Asda this week.

 And some rather cheery oven gloves to match.

A Ta-dah!

My Copper Asymmetric Jumper finished at last, after 2 1/2 years.

Double rib, made in good old Stylecraft Life.

I really like the points on the cuffs.

It was languishing in the naughty corner.  When I got it out, I realised that the error which had made it go in there in the first place had already been fixed.

  (Maybe I did it in my sleep, can't remember.) 

Not the best photo I see, I'll be speaking to DS about that later.

The hat I showed you a few weeks ago is coming along nicely. 

 It's Whale Watch from New England Knits.

It's a mixture of 4ply yarn.

 The Rowan Yorkshire Tweed is lovely to work with ~ but it has been discontinued now.

Now, I could say that this is stashbusting, but really it's not.  

My lovely friend Romain had a bit of a clearout not too long ago and gave me a yarny bag of allsorts and these were in it.

I suppose I'm stashbusting for her.  

I'm loving this pattern, watching the whales emerge row by row.

What with the weather being so rotten I've been keeping up with the baking.

Yesterday I made Meringue Nests with some juicy seasonal strawberries.

Yum!

I did venture into the garden through those showers and caught this double clematis.  There's lots more out there flowering but we seem to be missing it. :-(

 At school we're drawing to a close, a week and a half to go.

Things are getting a bit tired and ratty and yes, that's just the teachers.  

I've got two trips to go on this week, I might be wearing wellies!

 Right, that's me done for now.

Mr Clicky and me might try to get a walk in this afternoon ~ wish us luck!

Hope you have a fun week.

Bye for now.................Clicky Needles.